The Campbell Playhouse

Audio Classics_Ò Archive

Radio Broadcast Log Of:

The Campbell Playhouse


Following the success of The Mercury Theater On The Air, Campbell Soups offered sponsorship for the continuation of the series. The name changed to reflect the sponsor, as was often done in radio, and the series took off with a large radio audience. Orson Welles was the featured host on each broadcast.

Broadcast History:
Network: CBS
First Series: 12/09/38 to 06/02/39
Second Series: 09/10/39 to 03/31/40
Third Series: 11/29/40 to 06/13/41
Director:
Orson Welles (12/09/38 to 03/31/40)
George Zachary (11/29/40 to 06/13/41)
Producer:
John Houseman
Music:
Bernard Herrmann, Alexander Semmler (sub)
Writers:
Howard Koch (12/09/38 to 03/31/40)
Wyllis Cooper (11/29/40 to 06/13/41)
Host:
Orson Welles
Announcers:
Niles Welch, Ernest Chappell and Dan Seymour (12/09/38 to 03/31/40)
Del Sharbutt (11/29/40 to 06/13/41)
Sound Effects:
Bill Brown, John Cuomo, Harry Essman
Sponsor:
Campbell Soups
Theme:
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor
by Russian composer Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky (05/07/1840 – 11/06/1893)
Cast:
Bea Benaderet, Frank Readick, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, George Coulouris,
Georgia Backus, Everett Sloane, Edgar Barrier
Also heard:
Frank Morgan, Randolph Scott, Helen Twelvetrees, Eddie Cantor, Fred Allen,
Lionel Barrymore, Jack Benny, Freeman Cosden, Charles Correll, Jane Wyatt,
Margaret Sullavan, Burgess Meredith, Helen Hayes, Madeleine Carroll, Jane Wyatt,
Mary Astor, Laurence Olivier, Noah Beery, Walter Huston, Ida Lupino, Marie Wilson,
Arlene Francis, Wendy Barrie, Edna May Oliver, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Fredric March,
Jeanette MacDonald, George Raft, Frances Farmer and others.

Audience Ratings:
(First Season) C.E. Hooper 14.4 (1938 to 1939)
(Second Season) C.E. Hooper 12.8 (19 to 19)
(Third Season) C.E. Hooper 15.7 (1940 to 1941)



To see the broadcast log of The Mercury Theater On The Air click here.


To order programs from this series on CD click here.


First Season
Friday - 9:00 p.m. (60 Minutes each)

12/09/38 # 1 Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier w/Margaret Sullavan, Agnes Moorehead
Interview from London with Daphne du Maurier
12/16/38 # 2 Call It A Day by Dodie Smith w/Jeanne Dante, Beatrice Lillie, Jane Wyatt
12/23/38 # 3 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens w/Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten
12/30/38 # 4 Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway w/Katharine Hepburn
01/06/39 # 5 Counselor At Law by Elmer L. Rice w/Gertrude Berg, Joseph Cotten
01/13/39 # 6 Mutiny On The Bounty by William Bligh w/Dorothy Hall, Burgess Meredith
01/20/39 # 7 Chicken Wagon Family by Barry Benefield w/Burgess Meredith
01/27/39 # 8 I Lost My Girlish Laughter by Jane Allen w/Agnes Moorehead, Everett Sloane
02/03/39 # 9 Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis w/Helen Hayes, Ray Collins
02/10/39 #10 Green Goddess by William Archer w/Madeleine Carroll, Edgar Barrier
02/17/39 #11 Burlesque by G.M. Watters & Arthur Hopkins w/Arthur Hopkins, Sam Levene
02/24/39 #12 State Fair by Philip D. Strong w/Amos 'N' Andy & Burgess Meredith.
03/03/39 #13 Royal Regiment by Gilbert Frankeau w/Mary Astor
03/10/39 #14 The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett w/Paul Stewart, Elspeth Eric
03/17/39 #15 Beau Geste by Percival C. Wren w/Laurence Oliver, Jackie Kelk
03/24/39 #16 20th Century by Charles Mac Arthur & Ben Hecht w/Sam levene, Elissa Landi
03/31/39 #17 Show Boat by Edna Ferber w/Margaret Sullivan, Helen Morgan
04/07/39 #18 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo w/Walter Huston
04/14/39 #19 The Patriot by Pearl Buck w/Anna May Wong, Elliott Reid
04/21/39 #20 Private Lives by Noel Coward w/Gertrude Lawrence, Naomi Campbell
04/28/39 #21 Black Daniel by Honore Marrow w/Joan Bennett
05/05/39 #22 Wickford Point by John P. Marquand w/John P. Marquand, Agnes Moorehead
05/12/39 #23 Our Town by Thornton Wilder w/John Craven, Patricia Newton
05/19/39 #24 The Bad Man by Porter Emerson Browne w/Ida Lupino, William Allen
05/26/39 #25 American Cavalcade by Orson Welles w/Cornelia Otis Skinner, Frank Readick
06/02/39 #26 Victoria Regina by Laurence Houseman w/Helen Hayes

Second Season
Sunday - 8:00 p.m. (60 Minutes each)

09/10/39 #27 Peter Ibbetson by George du Maurier w/Helen Hayes, Everett Sloane
09/17/39 #28 Ah, Wilderness by Eugene O'Neill w/Arlene Francis, Joan Tetzel
09/24/39 #29 What Every Woman Knows by J. M. Barrie w/Helen Hayes, Alfred Shirley
10/01/39 #30 Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas w/Anges Moorehead, Ray Collins
(This is a repeat of Mercury Theater On The Air 08/29/38)
10/08/39 #31 Algiers by Henri La Barthe w/Paulette Goddard
10/15/39 #32 Escape by John Galsworthy w/Wendy Barrie, Jack Smart
10/22/39 #33 Liliom by Ferens Molner w/Helen Hayes, Agnes Moorehead
10/29/39 #34 The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington w/Walter Huston
11/05/39 #35 The Hurricane by Nordoff & Hall w/Mary Astor, Bea Benaderet
11/12/39 #36 The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd byAgatha Christie w/Edna May Oliver
11/19/39 #37 The Garden Of Allah by Robert Hichens w/Madeleine Carroll, Everett Sloane
11/26/39 #38 Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis w/Fay Bainter, Dennis Green
(Huckleberry Finn announced as next program)
12/03/39 #39 Lost Horizon by James Hilton w/Ronald Colman, Sigrid Gurie
12/10/39 #40 Vanessa: Her Love Story by Hugh Walpole w/Helen Hayes, Alfred Shirley
12/17/39 #41 There's Always A Woman by Wilson Collison w/Marie Wilson, Mary Taylor
12/24/39 #42 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens w/Lionel Barrymore, George Coulouris
12/31/39 #43 Come And Get It! by Edna Ferber w/Frances Dee
(Pre-empted in some areas for local New Years Eve programming prior
to joining network special.)
01/07/40 #44 Becky Sharp by William M. Thackery w/Helen Hayes
(This Lonely Heart w/Bette Davis announced as next show)
01/14/40 #45 Theodora Goes Wild by Mary McCarthy w/Loretta Young, Ray Collins
01/21/40 #46 The Citadel by A.J. Cronin w/Geraldine Fitzgerald, Everett Sloane
01/28/40 #47 It Happened One Night by Samuel Hopkins Adams w/William Powell
02/04/40 #48 Broome Stages by Clemence Dane w/Helen Hayes
02/11/40 #49 Mr. Deeds Goes To Town by Clarence Buddington Kelland
w/Gertrude Lawrence
02/18/40 #50 Dinner At Eight by George S. Kaufman & Edna Ferber w/Lucille Ball
02/25/40 #51 Only Angels Have Wings by Howard Hawks & Jules Furthman
w/Joan Blondell
03/03/40 #52 A Rabble In Arms by Kenneth Roberts w/Georgia Backus, William Allen
03/10/40 #53 Craig's Wife by George E. Kelley w/Regis Toomey, Richard Bear
03/17/40 #54 The Adventures Of Huck Finn by Mark Twain w/Jackie Cooper, Walter Catlett
03/24/40 #55 June Moon by Ring Lardner & George S. Kaufman w/Jack Benny
03/31/40 #56 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte w/Madeleine Carroll, Cecila Loftus
(This is a repeat of Mercury Theater On The Air 09/18/38)

Third Season
Friday - 9:30 p.m. (30 Minutes each)

11/29/40 #57 Air Mail To Red Riding Hood by Vina Delmar w/Humphrey Bogart
12/06/40 #58 Kind Lady w/Grace George, Herbert Marshall
12/13/40 #59 Doctor In The House w/Frederic March, Florence Eldridge
12/20/40 #60 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens w/Lionel Barrymore
12/27/40 #61 Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw w/Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier
01/03/41 #62 Personal Appearance w/Roseland Russell, Donald Cook
01/10/41 #63 The Go-Getter w/Helen Twelvetrees, Randolph Scott
01/17/41 #64 Free Soul w/George Raft, Frances Farmer
01/24/41 #65 Golden Boy by Clifford Odets w/Sylvia Sidney, Luther Adler
01/31/41 #66 Mrs. Fane Comes Of Age w/Mary Astor, William Gargan
02/07/41 #67 Option On San Felipe w/Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
02/14/41 #68 Master Mariner w/Walter Huston
02/21/41 #69 Wreck On Deliverance w/Jeanette MacDonald, Gene Raymons
02/28/41 #70 Crime Syndicate w/Paul Muni
03/07/41 #71 You And I w/Walter Huston
03/14/41 #72 Purple And Fine Linen w/John Beal, Gale Page
03/21/41 #73 Excess Baggage w/Wendy Barrie, Dick Powell
03/28/41 #74 Let Us Be Gay w/Madeleine Carroll
04/04/41 #75 Nervous Wreck by Owen Davis w/Eddie Cantor
04/11/41 #76 My Client Curley by Norman Corwin w/Fred Allen, Beatrice Kay
04/18/41 #77 The Talley Method w/Tallulah Bankhead, Philip Merivale
04/25/41 #78 Do Not Disturb by Ellery Queen w/Ellery Queen Radio Cast
05/02/41 #79 One Way Passage w/William Powell
05/09/41 #80 Springtime For Henry w/David Lewis, Alan Mowbray
05/16/41 #81 Alien Corn by Somerset Maugham w/Ruth Chatterton
05/23/41 #82 Woung Woodley by John Van Bruten w/Judith Anderson
05/30/41 #83 The Hero w/Henry Hull
06/06/41 #84 Tarnish w/Jean Ellyn
06/13/41 #85 Green Grow The Lilacs w/Burgess Meredith, June Walker


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Copyright © 1984 by Terry G. G. Salomonson. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States Of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.